Comments on: The Disconnection of Being Connectedhttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/
Sun, 15 Mar 2015 18:34:08 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Mike Gaskinhttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-846
Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:43:18 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-846Shirley, I feel like the opening of this blog post is written from an outside-looking-in perspective. Sure, I might appear to be disregarding fellow library patrons in favor of looking at a computer screen, but that’s not to say I’m not doing anything. I could be electronically engaged in the machinery of making college experiences happen – planning out events for the two campus organizations I run, finding out what time the next intramural hockey game is, and gathering a team for trivia night in McCullough.

For those who don’t use online social networks, it may appear that virtual interaction is replacing real interaction. But in my view, it really helps facilitate it.

]]>By: Hector Vilahttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-844
Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:46:34 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-844Hi, ironically, as this posting on your blog, Shirley, came out, in my J-Term course, Media, Sports and Identity, we were discussing how media creates and nurtures a master narrative that reifies the ruling ideologies. This is what’s become of Modernity, the students concluded. They describe their existence as something that fosters alienation, aloneness, confusion, disenchantment, while the narrative, which comes across all our media nodes, nurtures the opposite, leading students to conclude that a mark of our time is that our reality is marked by illusion — and disillusionment. And this in the face of a future where nothing is apparent — except perhaps hostility and violence, poverty and depravation.

Having said that, immediately when our class was over the other day, out came the cell phones and students formed mini circles and while looking into their phones, began discussing where to go have lunch and what was on the menu. In this sense, media is serving a need: where to have lunch together. There’s a greater issue at hand, the fostering of a physical community that will brake bread together (using the English version of the Latino way of saying this).

Anyway, before seeing your insightful post, I had decided to get off Facebook and Twitter, only because they are, in my own life, right now, distractions that I don’t need and can’t use — too much to do. I announced on Facebook that I was saying “adieu.” But, boy oh boy, the push back I’m getting! And I’m getting push back from people that can very easily get a hold of me in many ways, including seeing my, physically, on campus! What’s up with that?

thank you, Shirley for helping us think through this!

Hasta la proxima…los vemos…

héctor

]]>By: Roberthttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-843
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:50:13 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-843I went without my cell phone for the first two months of fall semester, and nobody could seem to get in contact with me! Your points are well taken, however- it would be nice if more of my friends could take the time to walk over to my dorm room to see if I’m around if their texts are unanswered. More and more people waste time on Facebook, e-mail, etc. but think that it is inconvenient to take a five minute walk to see somebody in person.

However, I sense that the disconnectedness of Middlebury students has more to do with socioeconomic and cultural differences than technology. Technology is perhaps amplifying the problem, but not causing it.

]]>By: Juliehttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-842
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:26:32 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-842While I understand the sentiment, I think it’s a ridiculous thing to ask of Middlebury students to simply “disconnect from technology” for a week. As students here, we can’t get by without checking our email, almost incessantly, for the 20-30 Middlebury emails we receive each day. The Middlebury workload, while normative for an institution of this caliber, is not conducive to much down time, or face to face interaction with others. Everything you mentioned sounds quite pretty and logical, but it’s easier said than done. To truly institutionally value social interaction on campus would mean a complete overhaul of the ethos of productivity that Middlebury thrives upon and I don’t see that coming in the near future.
]]>By: Hudsonhttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-841
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:09:26 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-841I agree that social networking is only valuable insofar as it leads to increased or improved human interaction. The ability to organize seemlessly and easily via facebook, or to invite friends to dinner from across campus instantaneously are logistically very convenient and therefore valuable. Its also valuable to be able to stay in contact we otherwise may not be talking to, although I agree that if the maintenance of distant friendships comes at the expense of creating new ones we are only hurting ourselves.

It’s a reality of modern life that people move, and that by doing so we are sacrificing our immediate relationships with people with the knowledge that they can go off and make new friends to replace us. That said, I take great joy in hearing from friends outside my immediate surroundings, so I think interpersonal communication is valuable. What I don’t appreciate is impersonal updates that have become so popular with adoption of twitter and the use of facebook statuses; they tools are great for organizing events or telling jokes but they meaningless on a personal level.

Another point I want to make is the ability to keep track of current events more easily than ever before is hugely valuable in informing people, especially in institutions of higher education. I believe our current era acts as a valuable supplement to many classes at Middlebury, from international relations to economics to social sciences. Again, I must acknowledge the social worthlessness of all the visits to textsfromlastnight.com, perezhilton.com, or even NBA.com, but I do believe people derive pleasure from these visits so who am I to decide which is preferable.

Virtually every generation is feared by those in previous generations for not having some essential quality that every other one before it had. Each of these generalizations were true about the extremes, but the majority of these eras grew up to be healthy, productive adults. I urge each of us to use new technologies responsibly, and to trust that most of us will grow up to have some parallel worry about the children being born today.

]]>By: A J-Term challenge from Dean Collado « MiddBloghttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-840
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:48:15 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-840[…] Diversity Officer Shirley Collado posted on the One Dean’s View blog. Her article, “The Disconnection of Being Connected,” offers an interesting […]
]]>By: Kya Ahttp://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/2011/01/04/the-disconnection-of-being-connected/comment-page-1/#comment-839
Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:48:44 +0000http://sites.middlebury.edu/onedeansview/?p=4134#comment-839I couldn’t agree more! When I was in high school I was always the last of my friends to join the social networking sites- they always seemed odd to me. Then I realized that I would be completely out of “the loop” so I went ahead and did it. My friends and I used to talk on the phone until we fell asleep! Now a text or a facebook wall post counts as having spoke to a person. It’s crazy. I gave up facebook for a few months twice last year and missed an engagement, a birth, and several birthday party invites. I felt like I had just come out of a mini-coma.
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